


First Year

by TheHollowOne104



Series: Descensus Averno Facilis Est [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec is a jerk but he gets better, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Bad Parent Maryse Lightwood, Bad Parent Robert Lightwood, Bigotry & Prejudice, Clary Fray is a good friend, Gen, Harry Potter typical violence, Hogwarts First Year, Ignoring history, Insecure Simon Lewis, Magnus Bane Is Quite Magical, No relationships they're 11, On Hiatus, Tom Riddle Era
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26707675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHollowOne104/pseuds/TheHollowOne104
Summary: Simon Lewis never expected he was a wizard. He never expected to be leaving for a school of magic alongside his best friend Clary Frey. He never expected the prejudice that would be waiting for him, nor the danger. He also didn't expect the friends he'd make along the way.Alec Lightwood has never questioned whether or not he was a wizard. His family is full of them as long as anyone can remember. He didn't expect how Hogwarts would push him however, nor the divides it would create between him and his heritage.!!!ON HIATUS!!!
Series: Descensus Averno Facilis Est [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943629
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1 Simon Lewis

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to my Darling Betas!  
> [AceOnIce ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOnIce/pseuds/AceOnIce).  
> [ The Chosen One! My Parabatai! ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeSleepySloth/pseuds/SomeSleepySloth).  
> And the lovely, ever gracious, Em!  
> If it wasn't clear, none of Harry Potter or The Mortal Instruments belongs to me.

Simon had owned his wand for months and he still couldn’t believe it. He’d never been special before, especially next to someone like Clary. Now here he was, on his way to a school of magic. He should have known about his ability when he’d been able to get away from bullies in ways that seemed outside the possibilities of reality, like when he’d somehow ended up on the roof of the local library. It was still hard to believe he was a wizard who was on a train to a wizard school where he’d learn all about the new world he was about to enter. A world where he’d hopefully be powerful wizard, and not just a nerd who liked music and movies no one else admitted they loved. 

“Simon, are you ever going to put your wand down?” Clary asked, from the other end of the train car. She waved and mouthed ‘hi’ when Simon turned to look at her. 

“What? Is there something more interesting to pay attention to?” Simon asked, looking around the car with exaggerated curiosity. Clary laughed. 

“I don’t know, the countryside is pretty,” Clary said. Simon scrunched up his nose and looked out the window. 

“It’s a blur of green. You’ll be going to the uh,” Simon paused, trying to remember the name before waving. “Snake house? Or was it the bird house that was green?”

“Slytherin, the snake house, they’re green and silver,” Clary said, with that smile she got when she knew she was right. 

“You only remember because your mom was a witch,” Simon said, pouting and pressing his face against the train seat. 

“Oh please, she barely let me go to Hogwarts in the first place,” Clary said, leaning against the seat and crossing her arms, rolling her eyes and looking out the window. “I wonder why she never told me.”

“She said she thought you were ah, what’s the word?” Simon asked. He didn’t want to have to keep asking, maybe he should crack open his textbooks sometime. The word textbook made his brain want to sleep, but they were magic textbooks, that had to mean they were at least slightly interesting. 

“Squib,” She said, scrunching her nose. “I don’t like the word, it sounds like squid.”

“It does,” Simon said, nodding as if she’d said something profound. 

Simon got his letter first and no one made a fuss. He and Clary had discussed the prospect of magic school until Clary’s letter showed up. Clary and her mother had been arguing about Clary being a witch since. It got to the point where their weekend sleepovers had become all but nonexistent. Then Simon got his letter as well, and things got heated. He was happy they were able to go to magic school together, but Clary’s Mom seemed adamant that it was not a good idea to enter the magical world. 

“What house are you hoping to get into?” Clary asked, a blatant attempt to steer the conversation away from her Mom.

“I don’t know, Gryffindor? I think I’d look good in red,” Simon said. He knew from Clary’s Mom and the school representative that each house was for someone with a certain kind of personality. He knew Slytherin was for the cunning, and Ravenclaw was for the curious or creative.

“I think I’m going to get into Ravenclaw, it sounds closest to my personality and Mom said she was in it,” Clary said. Simon nodded, he knew he was creative, but was he creative enough for Ravenclaw? An idea occurred to him, a terrible idea that made him shudder to even consider. 

“What has you making that expression? Is it the idea of me in blue? I suppose it wouldn’t go well with the hair,” Clary said, running a hand through her red hair self consciously. 

“I was wondering what would happen if we got sorted into different houses. I mean, that means we wouldn’t live in the same dorm or go to classes together right?” Simon asked, he took to playing with the handle of his wand. The fabric wrapped around the handle was fraying, in a few years it would come apart completely according to his sister, Rebecca. 

“Oh,” Clary said, leaning forward and making a thoughtful expression. “Well, I suppose we’d still have free periods together right? There are only four houses, so we have to have some classes together. We’ll be able to study together at least.”

“Oh, ok.”

“No need to take that tone, come on Si! We’re going to magic school, that has to make it at least a little bit better right?” Clary asked. There was a knock on their compartment door that made both of them jump. 

“Come in?” Clary asked, looking at Simon with narrowed eyes. He shrugged, maybe someone had come to tell them it was time to put on their robes? 

The door opened and two boys walked in. One was blond with a smug expression Simon knew well from the less kind students at his old school. The other boy looked a lot more, meek Simon supposed was the word. He had dark hair and walked a bit behind the blond boy. Something about the boys put Simon off instantly, perhaps it was the expensive looking robes or the way their eyes narrowed when the pair had gotten a good look at the car’s occupants. 

“Muggleborns?” The dark haired boy asked. 

“Could ask our names first?” Simon said, before he could help himself. Thankfully the dark haired boy didn’t so much more than smirk. 

“I’m Jace,” The blond boy said puffing out his chest. “When did you two find out about all this? Must have been shocking right? I bet you have loads of questions.” 

“Uhm, my Mom’s a witch,” Clary said, standing and putting her hands on her hips. “I think I know everything I need to already.”

“Oh, you’re a half-blood then?” The dark haired boy asked. 

“What’s that?” Simon asked, before he could help himself. Three pairs of eyes found him, thankfully Clary looked as lost as he did. 

“Someone born to our kind and a muggle,” Jace said, shrugging. “Your Dad was a muggle then right?”

“Muggles are non-magical people,” the dark haired boy said, giving Simon a look like he was annoyed he had to explain. Simon puffed his cheeks. 

“I knew that, I’m not stupid,” Simon said, leaning on his hand and copying Clary in looking at the passing countryside. It was a blur of green, but still somehow more interesting that whatever expression the black haired boy was making at him.

“I don’t know my Dad, I guess so, he died doing something in the muggle military when I was a baby,” Clary said quietly. Simon could tell by her tone that she hadn’t considered this. 

“What are you guys than? Full-bloods?” Simon asked, as a bit of a joke. Jace got a bit of a small smirk at that, but the black haired boy remained as quiet as ever. 

“Purebloods, it means we have actually have magical ancestry, and are far more powerful,” The dark haired boy said. The blond elbowed him. 

“Right,” Simon said, looking back outside. Was he really entering a magical world as a wizard, but going to be one of the least powerful wizards around due to his family? 

“Some people say that but there isn’t any real proof,” Jace said. The dark haired boy went red and looked at Jace. 

“What-?”

“Oh come on Alec, Izzy said so!” Jace said poking Alec on his forehead causing him to lose balance and fall on the chair next to Simon. As if he thought it was Simon’s fault Alec shoved Simon further down the seat and crossed his arms. 

“Izzy’s still ten, she doesn’t know much yet,” Alec said. “Our parents haven’t had that talk with her.”

“Well I think she’s right too,” Clary said. “I think your family being magical making you more powerful sounds like a bit of a dumb idea. Like something from a dumb fantasy story,  
right Si?”

“Oh,” Simon said thinking of all the stories he’d read where the protagonist had some sort of magical ancestry which gave him more power. “Yeah, of course.”

“See? Even the mudblood knows it?” Alec muttered, into his hand. Jace reached over the carriage and smacked Alec on the knee, Alec flinched so Simon supposed it wasn’t a light smack.

“Alec, come on, play nice. We’re going to be going to school with a lot of people without magical parents now,” Jace said fidgeting. 

“Why do you care, Jace?” Alec asked. Simon looked at Clary, they both understood they were hearing something that had been a long, private fight. The two boys seemed to have forgotten they were even here, as Jace set Alec with a look that made the dark haired boy flinch. 

“I don’t know who my parents are, Alec. Do you think I’m weak? What if I’m a muggle born too?” He asked. Alec looked away and didn’t answer. No one spoke for a long minute.

“You know? Tell me about the houses Mr. Magic Man,” Simon said, to break the silence. Jace brightened as he looked up at his captive audience. 

“Ok, so they’re all named after the founders. Ravenclaw is for the smart people-.”

“Or creative,” Clary said, sitting a little straighter. 

“Or that,” Jace said, as he waved her interruption off. “Slytherin is for the ambitious and cunning, Gryffindor is where I’ll be going, the home of the brave and daring-.”

“Oh really? Not the loud?” Clary asked. Alec snorted as Jace blushed slightly and waved her off again. 

“Hufflepuff is the last house, they’re for the rest,” Alec said, before Jace could keep going.

“There is a house for that?” Simon asked feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He wasn’t very cunning, brave, or smart, so was the house of the leftovers going to be his? The idea of being inherently the worst wizard in school came back to him; Simon looked down at his wand again, watching it shake in his grip.

“Its actually the house of the loyal, hardworking, and kind,” Clary said. “My Mom said you should be proud to be sorted into Hufflepuff, that the nicest people she’d ever met were in that house.”

“Is that so?” Alec asked. “I think I’d leave if I got sorted there.”

“It is kind of a house for the people that don’t stand out,” Jace said slowly, like he was waiting for Clary to say something and make him regret his words. 

“A lot of important people have been Hufflepuffs,” Clary said. Simon was fairly certain she was making that up, no way Jocelyn had told her that much about the wizarding world between their fights over her joining it.

“Who?” Alec asked. Clary actually backed down, not answering and muttering to herself. Alec smiled smugly. 

“Me,” Simon said deciding to go to bat for Clary. 

“What?” Alec asked. 

“Hufflepuff sounds like the house I’ll be in, and I’m telling you now there is no way I won’t be important,” Simon said. “I’m going to be a great wizard, you’ll see.” 

“Sounds more Slytherin to me,” Jace said. 

“What makes you think you’re so special?” Alec asked. Simon paused, he didn’t have any special magical heritage to speak of, nor a special power. 

“That’s what we’re going to school for right?” Clary asked coming to his rescue. “I mean, everyone who is great now had to be a student once? I’m sure we’ll figure it out!” 

“Yeah!” Simon said, and held his hand out for a high five. Clary slapped him and they pointed at each other energetically. 

“Woo!” Clary yelled. Alec looked on with a bored expression while Jace had the ghost of a smile. 

The compartment door opened again and this time a small witch stood on the other side. She had a cart filled with all sorts of things, all wrapped like candies. Simon saw some of the names: Chocolate Frogs, every flavour beans, and Cauldron Cakes. He looked at Jace and Alec who were digging around in their trunks before the woman even had a chance to speak.

“Anything from the trolley dears?” She asked. Jace looked at Clary and Simon, neither of whom had moved. 

“Alec,” Jace said, in a conspiratorial tone. “I don’t think they’ve had wizarding sweets.” 

“What? So?” Alec asked. Jace’s mouth hung open. 

“That means this is the perfect time to show them the benefits of our world,” Jace said standing up and handing the woman several gold coins Simon knew to be called Galleons. 

“What are you doing? Mom said to save that!” Alec said. Jace looked at Alec, his mouth a straight line and eyes serious. 

“Alec there are more important matters in life than saving money, like showing off the best sweets our world has to offer,” Jace said, turning back to the woman. “We’ll take a little of everything.” 

Simon could not believe his luck as Jace handed him a box of every flavour beans. He opened it and offered a bean to Clary. He hadn’t imagined the wizarding world had sweets of its own as well! He would have to talk his parents into giving him money for the next train trip. He popped the bean between his lips and gagging, spitting it into a napkin. 

“What?” Simon asked, as Jace and Alec roared with laughter. Clary’s eyebrows came together as she swallowed her bean. 

“Sausage?” 

“I think mine was grape medicine,” Simon said, gagging again as the thought seemed to bring the taste back full force. 

“They do mean every flavour,” Alec said, picking up one of the beans for himself and nearly choking on it. 

“What did you get? Simon asked, as Jace handed him a chocolate frog next. 

“I think, sand,” Alec said. His eyes narrowed and he seemed to forget where he was for a moment. “Not as bad as you’d think somehow. Not the worst I’ve had anyways, that was the vomit one.”

“Ewww, there is a vomit flavour?” Simon asked, eyeing the frog. Clary, being the fearless one, had already opened hers and yelled as the frog tried to jump away. 

“Get it!” Jace yelled, as Simon tried to catch it before it jumped out the window. He grabbed it and it stopped squirming. 

“What? Is it alive?” He asked. 

“No, just charmed to move around a bit, what would the fun be if it didn’t try to escape a bit?” Jace asked. 

“The fun is in eating the chocolate, not catching it!” Clary said, visibly shaken by the frog’s escape attempt. 

“Is it?” Jace asked, taking a bite off the frog’s head. “Besides, the cards are the best part really.”

“Cards?” Simon asked, instantly interested. Jace handed him a card depicting an old woman dressed in yellow. 

“Yeah, trading cards, I have her already, though I think you’ll be curious to know who it is,” Jace said. Simon took the card, weary of more tricks, and was surprised to see that the  
picture was moving. Simon held back a gasp not wanting to look more ignorant. He turned the card over and let the gasp out. 

“Hufflepuff!”

“Really?” Clary asked, moving over with half a frog leg sticking out between her lips. She downed it and let out a gasp of her own. 

“Its a rare card,” Jace said. “So being the super lucky guy I am I have a few of her already. Take it as a sign from the stars!”

“You don’t have any of the founders,” Alec said, innocently. Jace turned on him as Simon took a frog of his own, ready for the chocolate to make its escape. 

“Oh! Its good!” Simon said. “Here I was thinking all you wizards had were bad chocolate like those beans.”

“Hey! Some of them are good!” Jace said. “I had a chocolate ice cream flavoured one once, like, the expensive kind.”

“Is that so?” Clary said. “How about we all take a bean and whoever gets the best flavour wins?” 

“Your on!” Simon said picking up the box and holding it out. By the third round even Alec had joined in, by the sixth it was time to change into their robes. With bellies full of candy and faces alight, with cheer, even Alec’s, it was time to enter to Hogwarts.


	2. Alec

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec's chapter now!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to my lovely betas!  
> Especially Em, one of the most lovely people I've encountered on the wide internets.  
> [AceOnIce ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOnIce/pseuds/AceOnIce).  
> [ The Chosen One! My Parabatai! ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeSleepySloth/pseuds/SomeSleepySloth).  
> 

Alec followed Jace and his new best friends out of the train. An old family friend named Hodge Starkweather, who taught Charms if Alec recalled correctly, lead them towards a series of small boats. He had been told hundreds of times what would be happening from here, but he couldn’t help but be nervous. Jace laughed at something either Simon or Clary said, but Alec saw him glance around the grounds the way he did when Jace got nervous. Alec wondered if Jace was as nervous about the sorting as he was, he seemed to be at the peak of confidence however. Part of Alec hoped Clary and Simon ended up in Hufflepuff like they wanted, and leave Jace and Alec alone for the next seven years.   
The group of first years came up to a dark lake; its undisturbed surface reflected the moonlight and stars innocently. Someone said four to a boat, just like his parents had said. Alec held his head high as he walked through the mud and towards the boats. He saw something long and thin emerge from the water a good distance away before falling back under. Alec shivered; remembering stories of a giant squid in the lake, he would have to be careful if he ever went swimming. It comforted Alec in a way though, his parents hadn’t been wrong once so far about Hogwarts. 

Was it possible they were wrong about Muggle-borns? Alec always tried to consider what Jace and Izzy had to say and they tended to disagree with their mother and father. No, no, there had to be some sort of mistake on the part of Jace and Izzy. There was no way the blond, who had been levitating books bigger than his head before he was able to walk, could be anything but a Pureblood. Alec was far less powerful, yet the Lightwood family traced back for at least ten generations.   
Alec climbed into the boat next to Simon, as Jace had taken the spot next to Clary. It seemed Simon was no happier about this than he was; he was pouting at the duo and playing with the sleeve of his robe. The boats jerked forward making Alec’s stomach lurch. This was the moment he’d been waiting for since he learned about Hogwarts. Soon he would have his first view of Hogwarts. Everyone who’d been to Hogwarts before him, from his parents to close family friends to older kids, said Hogwarts was amazing, Alec was greedy for his first glimpse. 

“We’re going to be there soon,” Jace said, shifting enough to rock the boat. He hummed as Jace put a hand on Alec’s knee, the way he did as a child when he needed reassurance. It seemed their fight hadn’t been too bad then, if Jace was still willing to reach out to Alec for comfort. 

“How much longer?” Clary asked, moving almost as much as Jace, eager to get her first look at the castle. 

Alec wondered about her family, how could a magical parent marry a Muggle. It seemed like a downgrade to him, why would anyone want to leave the Wizarding World? 

Sometimes his parents answered that by calling people that did that dumb, but sometimes, when he was tired enough that they thought he’d forget, his mother told him the heart wanted what it wanted. There was no stopping it in that way, Alec gulped looking away from Clary and back at Jace. He didn’t want to think about love being some unchangeable force of nature that would turn his mind to mush. 

“There it is!” Jace said, standing up. The boat began swaying, and Alec struggled to keep his balance as he turned to see the castle. 

Alec didn’t even get a chance to see the castle before he went tumbling over the edge of the boat, and into the dark water. For a moment, he didn’t understand what had just happened and tried to take a breath. Cold water filled his mouth and he sputtered, flailing uselessly, not knowing which way was up or down. A hand grasped his robes and tugged Alec who swam in the direction of the hand. Alec coughed fiercely as he was pulled back into the boat. 

“Thanks Jace,” Alec muttered, only to look up and see the glint of light reflecting off Simon’s glasses looking at him. It was Simon who’d rescued him, not Jace. Alec yanked his hand out of Simon’s grasp and groaned.

“Sorry,” Simon muttered, shaking his sleeve to try and dry it. Jace and Clary were staring in open mouth awe at what must have been the castle. Alec closed his eyes and turned his head towards where they were looking.

Alec opened his eyes and understood why Jace had gotten so excited. The castle was nothing short of awe inspiring. It looked grander and older than even Lightwood Manor, made of dark stone blending it nicely with the dark sky behind it. There were lights on in the castle though, it seemed like every window was lit, giving the castle a glow. It was tall, with at least two towers that seemed to stretch into the clouds. Alec looked back at Jace, his golden hair and golden eyes seemed to glow in the light of the castle, totally enamored by the building. 

The moment the boats landed Jace and Clary were scrambling out and towards the front door before Professor Starkweather had the chance to show them where it was, practically racing each other in their haste. Simon moved slowly, looking at the castle with an open mouth and what seemed to be tears in his eyes. Alec paused for a moment, before chasing Jace through the crowd. He didn’t care about Simon; if the nerd wanted to lag behind that was his choice. Alec walked up to the door following Jace and Clary with as much dignity as his wet robes would allow. 

“Hello Professor Starkweather,” Alec said, walking up the muddy bank to the man. Professor Starkweather wrinkled his nose at the sight of Alec, waving his wand. Alec felt his robes and hair dry in an instant. 

“Your parents wouldn’t be pleased to know you fell in,” Professor Starkweather muttered, below the voices in the crowd. “Do show more decorum please, you’re here as a representative of the Lightwood family.” 

“Yes sir,” Alec said, meekly stepping into the crowd. He didn’t want to know what his parents would think of him falling off the boat, much worse, being yanked out by a Mudblood. 

“Students,” Professor Starkweather said, strolling between the group and the large oak doors, getting the attention of the chattering crowd. “When you walk through these doors you will go straight into the Great Hall. From there, you will be sorted into one of our four noble houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw. You will eat with your house, learn with your house, share in your victories and defeats. With your accomplishments, your house will gain points; with your defeats, your house will lose points. The house with the most points will win the House Cup. Make yourselves presentable, I’ll be back for you in a moment.”

Professor Starkweather stepped through the large oak doors. Alec gulped running a hand through his hair. His parents would be expecting him to go into Gryffindor with Jace, or Slytherin like his Dad had been. He’d heard stories of the house rivalries, about the pranks and Quidditch. Alec wanted to be a part of it; he wanted to prove he could master this world as well as his parents had before him.

“Alec,” Jace said. “Hodge was cool just now, wasn’t he? Here I was thinking he was a bit too lame to be a teacher here.”

“Yeah,” Alec said, shaking slightly. 

“What’s up? I can tell you’re thinking about something?” Jace asked. His eyes widened and he bit his lip. “Was it our fight?”

“No, well-.” Alec began, before he was cut off by Professor Starkweather opening the doors wide and beckoning them forward. 

Alec followed the crowd of students. His parents hadn’t said how they were going to be sorted. Izzy had told him at the train station that it was a duel to the death. Alec doubted that was the case, but he went over all the spells he was pretty sure he could do; The Sorting Ceremony had to be something to do with magic right? The group stepped into the great hall, but Alec was too focused on the upcoming task to care. It had to be some sort of spell work they’d have to show off. He turned to ask Jace and saw him whispering with Clary, evidently debating something as Jace nodded, and made Clary’s mouth fall open. 

Alec followed her eyes and couldn’t help but show his awe on his face. The ceiling of the room they’d just entered was covered in stars that tinkled as realistically as the ones outside. There were candles floating above the tables as well, but they blended with the stars so well Alec wasn’t sure which was which in a few cases. He saw clouds moving in and out of view; they were dazzling. It almost made Alec wish he were sleeping out here, being able to look up at the stars would be amazing. 

He tore his eyes from the sight above, to see five tables, one at the opposite end of the room from where they had entered, and four lining the room. Each had a banner, depicting the colors and animals of the houses. Alec looked towards Gryffindor, they seemed open, smiling and waving at the new class as they walked in. Through the crowd Alec could not see what was at the front of the room until the group had come to a stop and he could peer over the shoulder of the student in front of him. 

There was a hat, sitting atop a stool. Alec gulped and looked to Jace to ask him what he thought they’d have to do with the hat. He was talking to Clary though, with Simon on her other side still looking at the ceiling with an open mouth. The hat began singing, but Alec couldn’t care less. He didn’t pay attention to the hat at all, as its lyrics filled the room like fog, instead he focused on how Jace’s face seemed to light up at something Clary said. How his eyes seemed to stay on her as Clary looked around the room smiling. 

“When your name is called,” Professor Starkweather said, the sound of his voice demanding Alec’s attention. “You will sit on the stool and wear the hat, it will sort you and you’ll go sit with your respective house.”

Alec missed the first few names, his name was going to be in the Ls and he didn’t care much about where everyone else went. Jace wouldn’t be going anywhere besides Gryffindor, so what did it matter. He couldn’t help but pay attention as Clary was called, no matter how much he didn’t want to watch her confidently stride up to the hat as if she’d never belonged anywhere else. 

It was Jace, Alec couldn’t help but watch Jace whose eyes followed her. How could Alec not look at what made Jace smile so easily? Clary Fray sat on the stool and the hat was placed over her head, nearly falling to her nose. It went silent for a long time, Alec thought, far longer than it had been for anyone else so far. Clary’s knuckles clutched the sides of the stool and what was visible of her face was turning red. Would the hat not call out a house? Alec would laugh if she sat there so long they had to-.

“GRYFFINDOR!” The hat called. Professor Starkweather took it off the girl’s head. She nodded, seemingly accepting something, before walking over to the lion’s table with her head held high. Alec groaned into his hand, so there would be seven more years of this, seven more years of Jace watching Clary like that. Alec spaced out again, not caring where these people went, though his mind snapped back to attention when he heard another specific name. 

“Lewis, Simon,” Professor Starkweather called. Simon tripped on the way up, a dark skinned boy near the front of the line helping him up and shoving Simon towards the stool. Simon gave the guy a smile and nod, trying to take the rest of the walk with dignity. The hat wasn’t on Simon for long. 

“HUFFLEPUFF!” The hat yelled, to the cheers of the badger table. 

Simon stood up, shot Clary a sad smile and shrugged, before walking to his table. Alec gulped, running a hand through his hair at the thought of what would come next. On one hand Alec thought he’d be sick if he had to wait much longer, but he also did not want to put the hat on. Who knew what sort of magic it had?

“Lightwood Alec,” Professor Starkweather said, Alec decided his name had definitely come too fast. 

He walked slowly towards the stool, feeling like how he supposed a criminal would on their way up to the rope. He sat on the stool stiffly, all eyes in the hall were on him. Why couldn’t he have been confident for once? Why couldn’t he have been as confident as Clary the one moment Jace’s attention was on him? The hat fell over his eyes, at least now Alec couldn’t see the hall. He could pretend they weren’t looking at him for a moment. 

‘Well well, what do we have here? Another Lightwood, I know your family well,’ a voice said. Alec bit his lip to hold back a gasp. 

‘You sorted my parents too, didn’t you?’ Alec thought. The hat seemed to chuckle in his head. 

‘Many years ago I did sort Robert and Maryse. You are different to both of them though, aren’t you?’ 

‘What? No! They’re my parents. I’m not different.’ Alec said, knowing implicitly that different wasn’t good in this context. 

‘No, you’re a very different child than either Robert and Maryse were. Where to put you? Where would you flourish?’

‘Gryffindor,’ Alec thought. ‘With my brother, where our parents can be proud of us.’

‘Is that really what you want?’ The hat asked. ‘To continue being the boy your parents want? Or do you want to grow into your own skin a bit?’

‘What?’ Alec asked, not understanding the question. The hat seemed to chuckle again. 

‘It will become clear in due time boy. You see, it isn’t my job to send students, where they want to go. Its my job to send them where they’ll grow into respectable wizards and witches.’

Alec’s heart sank. ‘No. No, no no no no no.’

“Hufflepuff!” The hat cried for the hall to hear. Alec sat, frozen to the stool, not accepting the conclusion. Professor Starkweather took the hat off Alec and shoved him, his expression told Alec his parents would be hearing about this. He held back tears as he walked towards the badger table. Alec ignored Jace, whose name was called next, he   
couldn’t bear to look him in the eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave Kudos and comments if you liked.


	3. Simon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to finish the sorting, the feast, and the Hufflepuff Common Room!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thank you to my Betas! The Lovely Em!  
> [AceOnIce ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOnIce/pseuds/AceOnIce).  
> [ The Chosen One! My Parabatai! ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeSleepySloth/pseuds/SomeSleepySloth).  
> 

Simon moved aside to give Alec room to sit next to him, but the boy marched past like he hadn’t seen Simon. Instead Alec sat alone towards the end of the bench, away from the other Hufflepuffs. Simon shrugged and went back to paying attention to the Sorting Ceremony. Jace’s name was called next and the hat barely touched his golden head before he joined Clary at the Gryffindor table. He was happy, somewhere deep down, as Clary moved aside and Jace eagerly took a seat next to her. 

“Do you know him?” One of the older Ravenclaw asked, tapping Simon on the back, as he gestured towards Jace. The Ravenclaw table was behind the side of the Hufflepuff, between the Puffs and Gryffindor, where Simon was seated. 

“I met him on the train,” Simon answered, straining his neck to look at the other boy. “The girl next to him is my best friend. We grew up together. My name is Simon Lewis by the way.”

“Oh? I’m Meliorn” Meliorn asked, turning to look at them too. He paused to let the hall clap as someone joined Ravenclaw. “I’m sure it will be difficult being separated, Hogwarts has a tendency to make itself a home to everyone though.” 

“Thanks,” Simon said smiling at the older boy. He turned back to the sorting in time to catch the next boy’s name. 

“Santiago, Raphael,” the professor called. The boy who’d helped Simon up sauntered up to the hat like he had things he’d much rather be doing. 

“Slytherin!” The hat called, to far less applause than Simon expected. Simon couldn’t help but notice all the new Slytherins seemed to get far less applause than the rest of the students. 

“So,” Simon asked figuring it was better to ask a dumb question than make a dumb mistake. “What’s with Slytherin?”

“Uhm,” Meliorn hesitated, running a finger down his cheek. Simon got the feeling he’d try and change the subject if Simon allowed it.

“People seem to cheer less for the guys sorted there,” Simon said, watching Raphael join the Slytherin table with the same disinterested gait. A blond girl at the table shot him an unreadable look, before whispering into the ear of a boy next to her. 

“They’re not the nicest people generally,” Meliorn said, slowly and quietly. Like he was weighing every word. “The whole house believes in blood purity and tends to put other people down for their ambitions. A bunch of evil wizards have come from Slytherin too, like Grindlewald.”

“Oh, but that guy seemed nice enough,” Simon said. Raphael had helped Simon up, even though he didn’t have to. 

“He’s a kid, I’m sure he isn’t that bad yet,” Meliorn said. “Anyway, it seems like the sorting is nearly over.” 

“Oh?” Simon asked, watching the last girl be sorted into Ravenclaw. “I missed most of the people being sorted, I should have paid attention.”

“It’s usually the most boring part of the start of the year,” Meliorn said. “Only two boys this year huh? Well I suppose the number of people attending has been decreasing.”

“What?” Simon asked. Indeed, he and Alec were the only new Hufflepuff boys. There were three girls, but they seemed to know each other, sitting together and talking like they’d been friends for ages. 

“Yeah, less people have been attending in recent years,” Meliorn said. “A lot of people, Muggle-born kids especially, have been going missing. I suppose that’s part of it.”

“What?” Simon asked feeling the blood drain from his face. Meliorn looked up at the Head table and put a finger to his lips as one of the professors stood up. 

“Welcome, and in some cases, welcome back to Hogwarts! This is bound to be another exciting year, but I can tell what you’re all waiting for, so before I give the year’s announcements, let the feast begin!” The man said. Simon blinked. A feast? What was the Professor talking about? He turned to ask Meliorn what the man meant, but instead  
caught sight of what was on the table. 

Food had appeared on the able in the time when Simon wasn’t looking. He saw all sorts of things, corn, turkey, cooked potatoes from mashed to baked, even things Simon didn’t have a name for. He piled his plate high; the candy from earlier seemed to have vanished in his stomach as the scent of food hit his nose. A part of him wanted to ask where the food came from, a much larger part wanted to know how it tasted. It did not disappoint! Soon the food was replaced with desserts cookies, cakes, and a thin pancake-like thing.

“Welcome to Hufflepuff!” A large pale humanoid creature said popping through the table. Simon practically leapt out of his seat and screamed as the figure moved straight through the table and floated along it. 

“What was that?” Simon exclaimed. 

“Ghosts,” Meliorn said, leaning back to make himself audible to Simon. “The Fat Friar is the ghost of Hufflepuff. I expect you’ll see him around from time to time.”

“Wow, there are ghosts here?” Simon said, watching the Friar move through the Hufflepuff table, pausing to talk occasionally. “Who’s the Ravenclaw ghost?” 

“The Grey Lady, she doesn’t come down often though,” Meliorn said. Simon looked at the Gryffindor table and saw a ghost pulling his head nearly off his neck much to Clary’s horror and Jace’s amusement. He went back to the feast, not wanting to ruin his appetite with the sight of a decapitated head.

“Wow, that was amazing,” Simon said, when he’d finished eating. He sat back and rubbed the napkin over his face. Meliorn snorted and looked up at the staff table. 

“Not every meal here is like that, we have a few big feasts. I think the Welcoming Feast is my favorite.”

“Really? How many years have you been here?” Simon asked. He guessed Meliorn wasn’t that much older; he didn’t look older than fourteen at least. 

“This is my second,” Meliorn said. “I look older than I am I’ve been told. What year did you think I was in?”

“If I had to guess, third?” Simon said, happy he’d not been too far off. Meliorn nodded and looked like he was about to say something when the Headmaster stood up and called the room to attention.

“Now that we are full of yet another amazing welcoming feast I’m sure you’re all ready for sleep. I will only ask your attention for a few moments. First, there is a list of items that are banned from the halls on our caretaker’s room. Second, the Forbidden Forest was named as such for a good reason, and last but not least, magic is forbidden from the hallways. I’m sure many of you don’t need to hear these things, but I would like for all our houses to lose as few points as possible this year,” the man said. He sat back down and started a whispered conversation with a bearded man next to him who wore bright purple robes. 

“Alright, see those guys with the yellow badges?” Meliorn asked, pointing up the Hufflepuff table. Simon glanced over at two students who were standing and nodded. “Follow them, they’ll bring you to the common room.”

“Ah, thank you,” Simon said, standing up a bit too abruptly and accidentally hitting his knee on the bottom of the table. 

“You’re a bit too excited, aren’t you?” Meliorn asked, standing up as well. “I remember last year, I was practically bouncing in my seat the first night.”

“Oh yeah, I can’t wait for classes to start. I know it’s school, it’ll still be studying and all that, but it’s a magic school!” Simon rambled. He looked up at Meliorn, pausing to give him time to reply. His mother and teachers always said he talked too quickly and that it was off putting for others.

“It is still school, I mean, it is fun to learn magic, but trust me it’s still school,” Meliorn said, not explaining himself further. “I’ll see you later Simon, best of luck in classes and do keep in touch.” 

Simon bit his lip to prevent further questions from coming out as Meliorn followed the Ravenclaws, going the opposite way from the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins. He didn’t want to ask questions despite his mind working at a hundred miles an hour. Hogwarts felt, so far, like something to be experienced. After all, if he’d been spoilt about the ceiling, or the boats, it would have certainly made the experience of seeing them for the first time less fun. He didn’t want ask now, despite having so many questions. 

Alec walked ahead him, his head was down, fingers intertwining and separating as they walked. Simon wondered why he was this upset about being in Hufflepuff. It was sad; he saw older kids trying to talk to Alec, pointing things out in the hallways as they passed, but Alec didn’t respond. Simon looked at several of the things they pointed out, portraits of people that moved, like his card of Helga Hufflepuff. Many of them said things to the group as they passed, mostly welcoming them back to the castle. 

“Why do the pictures move?” Simon asked another older Puff. She looked over at them with half lidded, tired eyes. 

“The pictures all move, there is a spell or something like that. They can all talk, all magical paintings not just the ones in Hogwarts, which can be helpful if you’re on your way to class and get lost. You could try talking to the ghosts too, but they’re more prone to tricking you.”

“Oh!” Simon said, looking at the picture a little closer, making the person in the picture take a step to the side, completely out of their frame, and frown judgmentally at him. Simon didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in the paint or the frame, he wondered where he could learn the spell to animate paintings. The older girl watched him with a slight frown. 

“You’re Muggle-born aren’t you?” 

“Does it matter?” 

“Not here in Hufflepuff,” She said. “But, to some other people it does.”

“Like Alec,” Simon muttered. 

“Oh,” The girl said scrunching her nose slightly. “I was surprised about his sorting, the Lightwoods don’t often go to Hufflepuff. I’m Jane Caplan, by the way. I think your name was Simon?”

“Yeah! I’m Simon Lewis. Are we sorted by families?” Simon asked. 

“Not really…well, people in the same family do tend to go to the same house more often than not.”

“Do you think his family will be upset with him for getting placed here?” Simon asked. Jane paused mid-step, before shrugging. 

“We’re almost there, we’re the house that’s closest to the Great Hall. If you can figure out where every classroom is from the Great Hall you’ll be good for directions,” she said not answering Simon’s question. 

“I was worried about getting lost, this castle is huge,” Simon said, letting her change the subject. “How did you figure it all out?”

“You can ask the older students for a map or if the worst comes to worst you ask an older student, a ghost, or even a painting. Try to ask another Hufflepuff though, it is a common trick to try and make the other houses late since you are docked points for being late to class.”

Simon began to ask another question when he nearly bumped into the back of the much older and taller boy. They had stopped in front of a large stack of barrels, and Simon waited for someone to do something. One of the Prefects walked up to the barrels, said something Simon was too far away to hear, and knocked on them. The barrels sprung aside. 

Jane seemed to notice Simon hadn’t heard the explanation. She put a hand on his shoulder and quickly told Simon he had to recreate the pattern the student knocked to open the door. As the students shuffled into the room, she promised she would show Simon again later if he was unsure. 

The first thing Simon noticed was the colors, the common room seemed to be mainly shades of yellow and brown that made it seem bright. There was a fireplace, and several deep tunnels that seemed to have been dug into the dirt by a giant badger. Fat armchairs that looked capable of swallowing Simon should he sit in one were huddled around a fireplace with a roaring flame. 

Above the fireplace was a painting of a woman who appeared to be sleeping, and above her were windows letting moonlight filter into the room. Simon could see grass and dandelions at the edges of the window, along with potted plants covering the walls, which gave the room an earthy feel. There were doors everywhere, perfectly rounded, each of them with a bronze number.

“Your dorm will be through the door with the number one on it. Your things will already be in your room,” Jane said yawning widely. Simon nodded, yawning himself as he stretched and walked towards the correct tunnel. 

Alec didn’t follow, sitting on the floor under the windows, and curling up instead. If Simon didn’t know better he would have guessed the other boy was crying. His shoulders didn’t shake nor did he make a sound; Simon supposed he was thinking. Alec had made his thoughts on Simon clear multiple times, so Simon didn’t approach, instead going through the door and following the tunnel to another set of doors. These ones had large copper letters, one spelling out Boys, one spelling out Girls, and the last, spelling out Restrooms. 

Simon opened the door for the boys’ and saw two beds. The beds had patchwork blankets covering them, and copper lamps hung from the walls giving the room a look like Simon would compare to Hobbit homes from his Lord of the Rings books. There were two desks and dressers at each end of the room. Simon was happy to see he would be able to study in the bedrooms if the common room got too loud. He opened his trunk and began pulling things out to put in the wardrobe, before lying his bed, arms behind his head as he thought over what happened that day. It was a shame he had to share the room with Alec, but he supposed there could be worst things.


	4. Alec Lightwood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for classes and ANGST!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing in this fic belongs to me! Everything familiar belongs to either JKR or CC.   
> Thank you as always to my lovely beta readers!   
> The loviest Em!  
> [AceOnIce ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOnIce/pseuds/AceOnIce).  
> [ The Chosen One! My Parabatai! ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeSleepySloth/pseuds/SomeSleepySloth).  
> 

Alec could have sworn he’d fallen asleep leaning against the wall trying to will himself out of existence. This didn’t appear to be the case as he woke up in a bed with Simon snoring lightly on the other side of the room. Alec sat up, rubbing his eyes as he collected his toothbrush and toothpaste from his trunk. In the back of his mind he knew he’d have to unpack eventually; he didn’t want to think about it though. It felt too much like accepting his fate. 

Alec went out into the tunnel and found another door that led to the restroom. It was separated into two more tunnels, one to the male restroom and showers and one to the female version. He heard voices and showers running from the female side so Alec supposed he wasn’t the first one up. After brushing his teeth, Alec went back to his bedroom, deciding to shower at night instead. At least he only had to deal with one roommate. On the other hand his roommate was Simon of all people; who was awake by the time he got back to the room. 

“Good morning,” Simon said when Alec came back in. 

Alec ignored him and began digging around in his trunk for his robes and found that his school robes had been changed to sport the Hufflepuff house colors and seal. After spending a long moment looking at the Hufflepuff badger, as though it were the cause of all his problems, Alec forced his arms through the robes sleeves and began getting the disgusting yellow tie on. Simon was having more trouble with his tie. For a moment Alec considered helping him, but decided against it. He pulled a smaller bag he’d filled with papers and quills the previous day onto his bed for him to get after breakfast when he’d gotten his schedule. 

“Nice talking to you too,” Simon muttered, as Alec left. Once again, Alec ignored him, he got the feeling he’d be ignoring Simon a lot over the next seven years. 

Alec ignored the other students mingling in the common room and left through the main entrance. Stepping out in the corridor felt like the first time Alec could breath. He was no longer being suffocated by all the bright colors and other students. He felt like curling up against the wall again, wondering what sort of cruel trick the hat played, sorting him into the house of the leftovers. Was he really not brave, cunning, or intelligent enough for any of the other houses?

Several older Hufflepuffs left the room, throwing him wary looks as they passed. The whole house seemed on edge around him. They looked at him like they knew as well as he did, that he wasn’t supposed to be there, like he were some sort of invader they’d been told to tolerate. A Lightwood in Hufflepuff, Alec could see why they might think that. Alec sniffed, holding back a laugh at the terrible joke the universe was playing on him. At least he could see Jace soon. When Alec went to leave a hand prevented him from continuing down the corridor. 

“We need to talk for a moment,” The older girl Alec had seen Simon talking to said in a less than cheerful voice. 

“What?” Alec hissed, clenching his jaw. 

“Simon mentioned the way you talk about muggleborns to me, if I hear anything about you saying things like that from anyone, I’ll be taking it to the Prefects. I don’t care what your parents told you, but we don’t tolerate that sort of thing in this house,” The girl said leaning against the wall

“We’ll see about that,” Alec said turning and walking with haste towards the Great Hall. He grit his teeth, why had Hogwarts been nothing but problems so far? He was supposed to love it here, it was supposed to be a chance to prove himself. Instead it had been one gut punch after another.

Alec entered the Great hall, adjusting his robes to make sure he looked like the Lightwood heir he was, when he caught sight of Jace. His adopted brother was sitting next to the Fray girl, and seemed they were deep in conversation. Jace caught sight of him and grinned, standing and jogging over to him. It made Alec smile to know Jace still wanted to see Alec despite their different houses. 

“Hey Badger-boy,” Jace said strutting over to Alec making him pause mid-step. Jace closed the distance, pressing his index and middle fingers to Alec’s forehead. “You said you’d leave if you got sorted into Hufflepuff, but here you are. Are you plotting escape still or have you accepted your fate? Mr. Leftovers.” 

Alec tried to stutter out an answer, taking a step back. Jace crossed his arms over his chest and puffed his cheeks. “You don’t mean that, Jace.”

“Oh? And you did?” Jace asked. The redhead seemed to have noticed something was up as she walked up behind Jace. 

“What are you saying Jace?” Alec asked. “That I’m a failure before I even stepped foot in this castle? I’m a Lightwood, that has to mean something.” 

“Maybe it doesn’t,” Jace said putting a hand on his hip. Clary paused as Alec’s mind whirled. 

“What?” Alec asked. “You, you can’t mean that.” 

“Why not? I mean, I’m something, and I’m not a Lightwood. I’m a Wayland who was raised by Lightwoods,” Jace asked. There was a long pause, no one in the hall was paying attention to a small spat between first years, but it still felt like all eyes were on Alec. He felt himself shaking. 

“Hey everyone!” Simon said jogging over to the group. “Did you guys see the showers here? There were so many setting for heat, I think I’m going to boil or freeze myself on accident!”

“I saw,” Clary said eagerly clawing at a new conversation. Alec took a step back feeling tears burning behind his eyes. He turned and walked to the Hufflepuff table.

Despite his stomach feeling like it was full of tar he piled his plate with waffles and sausage and began eating. It tasted like sludge in his mouth, but Alec forced it down knowing he’d need his strength for today. It was his first day of classes at Hogwarts and he had to give every spell his best effort.

A flock of owls flew through a high window. It seemed to Alec, for a moment, that they had been flying through the light morning sunrise showing through the enchanted ceiling. Each of them lowered to drop letters before students. Alec watched as the flock slowly vanished, unsure of why. He looked back at his food, thankfully untouched by droppings or feathers. 

A piece of paper appeared next to him, as if by magic. It didn’t take a genius to realize it was the schedule. Alec glanced over his classes knowing he needed to memorise them, despite wanting to go curl up in a corner. Today was important; it was his first major step into the world as a wizard. 

The first class was Charms; sadly it was with the Gryffindors. Alec wasn’t sure how long he could avoid Jace; he was probably expecting an apology. It wouldn’t be the first time Alec apologized to him after a big fight, the only one who could make Jace say he was sorry was Izzy, and she wasn’t here to mediate. 

The classroom wasn’t hard to find, but Alec was still one of the last to get there, having lingered in his room for a long time getting his textbooks for the day in order. He didn’t want to be caught without something he needed on his first day. Simon was much quicker, throwing everything in a bag and practically running out the door. It took a few minutes to even find the classroom, but he’d found a map on his bed before he left.

Jace motioned for Alec to come sit with him near the front of the room, but Alec walked away and took a seat alone at the table. He noticed a large feather on the desk, maybe from an eagle of some kind. He didn’t touch it, figuring its presence would be explained later. Hopefully today would be a lecture day, he didn’t want to have to pay close attention to most of his classes. Alec found his mind too scattered for magic that day. 

Sadly, he’d forgotten who the professor teaching the class was. Hodge walked into the room and sniffed at the class. Alec wasn’t sure why he’d gone into teaching, Hodge seemed to dislike most children and noise in general. His eyes moved over the class, placing his wand on the table. The sound got Alec’s full attention.

“I don’t expect all of you to have what it takes to master the art of Charms work, in fact, if half of you make it to the NEWT level I will be astounded. Many say charms is a wishy-washy, bangs and smells branch of magic, but as many of you will find here, it requires attention to detail and a creative mind,” Hodge said walking slowly down the rows of desks. Someone coughed awkwardly in the silence. 

“I will be jumping right into it, if you can’t swim in my class, well, you’ll have to sink,” Hodge said. He picked up his wand, wordlessly levitating a piece of chalk and causing it to begin writing on the board. “This week you will all be mastering the Levitation charm, beginning with the feathers before you and ending with your textbook. Any of you that master it before Friday will get house points. The Incantation and wand movement will be in the first chapter.”

Alec was one of the first to open his book and begin reading the chapter. The charm was simple in nature, and the wand movement was not complicated. Alec bit his lip and reread the chapter, practicing the wand movement without speaking. The feather would be light, it shouldn’t take much power to make it rise. Alec let out a long exhale and looked at the feather closely. He could do this, he was the oldest son of the Lightwood family, a long list of amazing wizards came from his family. He would honour their memory and this was the first step to doing so. 

“Wingardium Leviosa,” Alec muttered to himself once before attempting the spell for real. 

He felt a rush of power through his arm and into the wand and the feather jumped a bit. In his excitement, Alec lost control of the spell and the feather fell innocently back onto the desk. He looked up to find a very displeased Hodge shaking his head. 

“Managing to be a disappointment in every way, aren’t you? Are you certain you’re even a Lightwood?” Hodge whispered. 

Hodge moved on to check other people’s work. Alec looked down at his hands and realized, no, he hadn’t gotten a letter. His parents said they’d mail him after his first night to make sure he fit in ok. Alec made a mental note to go to the Owlery tonight and send a letter himself. He had to let them know he was still doing his best to uphold the Lightwood name. Alec bit his lip before looking at the feather again. 

“Wingardium Levisoa,” He muttered watching the feather rise to eye level, the initial excitement having faded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please Comment and Kudos if you enjoyed!


	5. Simon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for more Angst!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my lovely Betas!  
> The Lovely Em!  
> [AceOnIce ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOnIce/pseuds/AceOnIce).  
> [ The Chosen One! My Parabatai! ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeSleepySloth/pseuds/SomeSleepySloth).  
> As always I do not own anything!

“Are you really still sulking because you didn’t manage to get the feather to float today?” Clary asked, skipping ahead of him. Simon muttered something under his breath; it had nothing to do with his completely stationary feather, believe it or not. 

“Nothing,” Simon said, looking at his wand before angrily shoving it back in his bag. He wouldn’t need it for potions anyways. 

“Are you still upset about not progressing past the levitation spell?” Clary asked. Simon growled and felt like punching a wall, though he didn’t. 

“Of course I am, pretty much everyone else has moved on to the wand lighting one.”

He hadn’t managed to perform a single spell all week, something Alec Lightwood seemed to have noticed. The other Hufflepuff was not talking to Simon now any more than he was in the first week. In fact, Alec seemed to be going out of his way to show off how much magic he was capable of. He had been able to float a feather on the first day, and had moved on to slightly heavier items while Simon’s feather remained immobile for three days. Not only had his feather not floated but he also hadn’t gotten his match to look anything like a needle in Transfiguration despite practicing for all hours of the night in the common room.

“Are you ok? Look at me, Si,” Clary said, grabbing his shoulder. Simon looked away. 

“What if the school made a mistake? What if I’m not a real wizard?” Simon asked quietly. Clary took a step back and her lips dropped. 

“Oh, Simon,” She said, pulling him into a hug. “I’m sure it’s just coming a bit slower for you. The wand wouldn’t have picked you if you weren’t a wizard.” 

“Are you sure? I don’t feel like that’s true,” Simon said, taking a deep breath and looking down at his bag, tempted to take his wand out again and mess with it. Even through the bag it seemed to be mocking him, mocking his bad wand movements or incantations. 

“Have you asked the professors?” Clary asked. “They’re here to help us, you know. It’s their job to help you if you fall behind.”

“I tried to ask Professor Starkweather, but he ignored me,” Simon said, throwing his arms up. “Professor Dumbledore is like, way too difficult to approach. He seems like he’s better suited to sitting in a wizard tower and summoning lightning to throw at unsuspecting travelers.” 

“What? Dumbledore is perfectly nice,” Clary said. “I hear you on Starkweather though, he seems like he’s the type to turn one of us into a rat if we ask too many questions.”

“You don’t need to make me more freaked out, do you?” Simon growled as he continued to walk towards Potions. He liked Potions so far, it seemed to be the calmest class, and the teacher was a jolly man with a big belly. 

“I’m trying to make you laugh,” Clary said, smacking him on the shoulder. 

“It doesn’t make me laugh when it sounds like something he might actually do!”

“Nah, they wouldn’t let the professors do something like that. I’m sure it's against the rules or something.” 

“Professor Starkweather doesn’t seem to care about the rules. How is Gryffindor, by the way? Is the common room nice? Are the other first years good?” 

“Hm? The common room is amazing, it's high up in one of the towers and you can see practically the whole area from our dorm. The other girls are pretty nice, I’ve been studying with one called Lydia, as well as Jace. The other two seem to be childhood friends but they showed me how to tie my school tie,” Clary explained, with gestures to help explain her points. Simon tried not to be jealous, he had gotten no further in befriending Alec. 

“That sounds amazing, I kind of wish I’d been sorted there,” Simon said. “All the Gryffindors seem so nice and open. I’ve been talking to a few Hufflepuffs, but all the girls in our year seem to be a clique and I’m terrified to talk to them. I’m friendly with a second year Ravenclaw called Meliorn, but he has his own friends and doesn’t have much time for me.” 

“They seem nicer than, like, Slytherins,” Clary said. 

“What do you mean?” Simon asked. He turned a corner and began walking down a staircase that led to the dungeons. Clary bit her lip, eyeing two Slytherins leaning against the top of the staircase. 

“We’ll talk later, I don’t want to talk about it in their territory,” Clary whispered, pulling Simon down to where she could whisper in his ear. 

“Whose territory?” Simon asked, looking back at the students who seemed to be sneering at them. Slytherins did a lot of sneering it seemed, like they were ready to give a big evil speech, some of them complete with cats. 

Simon felt something catch his ankle and he fell with a yelp. Thankfully it wasn’t his first time falling down the stairs and there weren’t many stairs left, so he ended up getting no more than a few bruises. Clary was at his side in an instant, helping him to his feet. She was looking up at the Slytherins, who were snickering down at them. Simon opened his mouth, before shutting it again.

“What? You got something to say? Mudbloods?” One of them yelled down. Clary looked ready to begin throwing spells at them. 

“Nope, we have nothing to say,” Simon said, tugging on Clary’s arm. 

“Simon,” She whispered. “They can’t get away with that!”

“Sure they can,” Simon said. 

“Why?”

“We need to go to potions, not get detention in our second week for beating people up,” Simon said, pushing her along, much to the laughter of the Slytherins. 

“You know they tripped you right? That wasn’t you.”

“I don’t know about that. I trip quite a bit Clary.” 

“The boy with dreadlocks tripped you,” Clary said. “I saw him use his wand, it was some kind of spell.” 

“What were you saying?” Simon asked, wanting to change the subject, as they got out of earshot. Clary’s face was nearly as red as her hair, her fists clenched.

“Later,” Clary said, shoving Simon down the hallway to get them further away from the other students. 

The dungeons were Simon’s least favorite part of the castle so far. They were always cold and seemed to have the energy of, well, a dungeon. He half expected to hear people screaming in the dungeon cells or see ghosts wailing and wandering the halls, which was a lot more likely. It was a good thing the potions classroom was the only room down there that he had to go to, and it was near the front of the dungeons. He was grateful he didn’t have a common room down there like the Slytherins. 

He couldn’t imagine being a Slytherin. The entrance to the Hufflepuff common room was easier to find when you knew what to look for. The Slytherins seemed to have to wander this maze before getting to their Common Room. Simon had a thought, how many had managed to never find their common room or gotten lost in the dungeons? He shivered, wondering if he would someday encounter a ghost of a lost Slytherin student. Clary ran her finger down his spine, making Simon jump. She laughed at him and even Simon had to snicker at her joke. 

Thankfully it didn’t take long before they managed to get the classroom. There was a group of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs gathered, pulling their robes around themselves, waiting for Professor Slughorn to open the doors. Many of them stood together, whispering to each other. Alec stood alone at the other end of the hall, away from the crowd, glaring at Jace who seemed to be glaring back, so much so he didn’t notice Simon and Clary. 

“What’s up with those two?”

“Still haven’t made up from that breakfast where they argued,” Clary said, leaning against the wall. “Do you mind if I work with Jace today? I want to see if I can straighten him out.” 

“Please work with me?” Simon asked using his best puppy dog eyes. He didn’t want to have to work with Alec. “If you work with Jace, I might have to partner with Alec. If you partner with me, they might have to work together.” 

“Oh, good idea!” Clary nodded and pulled her potions book out. “Did you memorize the recipe we’ll be working with?” 

Simon pulled out his own potions book. The first few days of class had been filled with Slughorn giving them warnings about potions and making sure they knew what they were doing. Simon had taken good notes on the lectures, he felt confident about his knowledge on the ingredients they would be using so far, and he was ready to actually try to make a potion. He took a deep breath and nodded. 

“I think I’m ready for this,” He said, opening the book to the boil cure potion and reading the familiar words again. Making sure they had attached themselves to his mind, he was going to be good at one thing, even better than Alec. 

“You’ll be fine. If you need help with the spell work you can find me at the library after dinner and we can go over them. I’ll make sure to help you,” Clary whispered. “We’ll get there. I promise.”

“Pinkie swear?” Simon asked, holding his pinky out. Clary took it and they shook on it. Simon smiled. 

“I know, if I go back on it now I have to swallow a bunch of needles,” Clary said rolling her eyes. 

“I still don’t believe that’s how it works,” Simon said with a laugh. At least, that’s how Luke said it worked. Simon was still partly sure he was pulling their legs, but you couldn’t be too sure with Luke. 

“Have you gotten a letter from home yet?” Simon asked. Clary nodded. 

“Mom says it's good I got into Gryffindor, they tend to be nice to muggleborns,” She said. “She wants to hear from you too, if you give me a letter tomorrow, I’ll send them both off.” 

“Ok,” Simon said, about to say more when the door opened and Slughorn stepped out. 

“Come on in everyone,” He said, stepping aside to let them in. 

The potions classroom always smelt. It didn’t smell bad precisely, but it smelt. There also always seemed to be some sort of mist hanging over the ceiling, though Simon figured that could just be his glasses. He and Clary took a bench. 

“Alright everyone, today we’ll be working on a cure for boils. It is a basic potion and you should have it done by the time class is over. It goes over a lot of the fundamentals of potions, the timing, the precise movements, so pay attention as you go, and don’t be afraid to ask if you need clarification,” Slughorn said. 

“Can you get everything ready? I’m going to crush the snake fangs,” Simon said, pulling six out and putting them in the small bowl. Clary began groaning as she pulled out the slugs although she didn’t make any noise about the quills. 

“I think that’s good, the recipe says a fine powder,” Clary said. 

Simon nodded and bit his lip. “How many do you think four is? I didn’t think to separate them before crushing them.”

“Uhh, eyeball it,” Clary said, shrugging. Simon pushed crushed fang powder into the pewter caldron until it looked like maybe two were left. 

“Ok, can you heat it up? We need to boil it on high for a few seconds. I’ll count.” Simon asked, not confident enough in his spell work to try heating it. Clary nodded and stuck her tongue out ever so slightly as she tapped her wand to their burner. 

“One, two, three, four, five, six,” Simon said before realizing he was talking a bit too fast to be an accurate measure of time. “Ehh, stop!”

Clary pulled her wand back and the cauldron stopped boiling. She waved her wand over it once as the book instructed; Simon wasn’t sure if it had worked but nothing had exploded so he counted it as a win. Simon hoped they were a little bit accurate as he took a step back. They were ahead of everyone else it seemed. A lot of the other tables were still crushing their snake fangs. Jace and Alec were not working together, Alec was working with one of the Hufflepuff girls who kept throwing him glares as Alec seemed to be trying to crush the fangs out of existence. Jace was working with a girl (Clary whispered that was Lydia) and they were the closest to Simon and Clary. 

“What do you think? Are we moving too fast?” Simon asked, keeping an eye on the clock. 

“I think we’re doing fine, everyone else is just moving too slowly,” Clary said, shrugging. “How much time is left?” 

“Then we take it off the fire. I think we’ll finish this today.”

“Man, we’re good,” Clary said, waving her wand to vanish the fire. Simon added the quills and began to stir. He leaned back and Clary waved her wand over it again and the potion seemed happy with that. Simon and Clary high fived as Slughorn walked over to their cauldron. 

“Very nicely done, a good color,” He said, pulling a vial out of his coat and filling it with their potion. He eyed it critically. “You added too many snake fangs at the start and let it brew a little too long. Not bad at all for a first attempt though.” 

“Oh,” Simon said, frowning slightly. He made a mental note to be more careful in his distribution of the ingredients. Clary was smiling like she’d been told Christmas would be coming twice this year. 

“We make a good team eh?” Clary whispered to him as Slughorn vanished the rest of their potion. Simon frowned, wishing he’d been able to bottle it although it might not be good to use considering their mistakes.

Slughorn walked over to another table and Simon heard an explosion. He turned as Slughorn hurried to the back of the room where Alec and the Hufflepuff girl were coated in potion. They began growing big boils on all their exposed skin. Simon held back laughter and looked away. He had to remember, he slept in the same room as Alec, and the other boy’s wand work was much, much better than his. Clary was snickering enough for both of them. 

“You didn’t take it off the flame,” Slughorn scolded. Simon heard what sounded like grumbling, he had to hold back another series of snickers as he was forced to imagine Alec’s lips sealed shut with boils. “Both of you, get to the infirmary, yes Mr. Lightwood you heard me correctly. You can get a note there about why you’re late to your next class.” 

“That was amazing,” Simon muttered when he heard the door close behind Alec and the girl. 

“You and Alec really aren’t getting along, are you?” Clary asked. Simon nodded as Slughorn dismissed the class. 

“No, he seems to hate it here,” Simon said, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. He didn’t know what was going on with Alec, the more people tried to get through to him, the more he seemed to sulk.

“I’ll talk to Jace, maybe I can make them get along again,” Clary said. 

“What?” Simon asked. “Why are you sticking your nose in?”

“Well considering you two have to share a room, I don’t want him to be more of a pain than I’m sure he is now,” Clary said. Simon blushed. 

“Thanks Clary, you’re a good friend.” 

“Don’t think twice about it. I’ll see you after dinner ok? Don’t forget to write that letter to Mom! I think she’ll be happy to hear from us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed please leave a comment! If you want to interact with the community more here is a link to the [Malec Discord Server!" ]().  
> 


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